TKG011 – Gunshae – The Sky Is A Gateway, Not A Ceiling

“Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.”
– Tom Stoppard “Rosencrantz and Guildenstein Are Dead”

This is transitional music. Music for the moment between breaths. Sounds for the close that heralds dusk and the opening that heralds dawn.If Gunshae’s first album “Travelling Without Memory” was tied to the earth and their second album “Out Of Darkness, light” all moon music, this is something different. A soundtrack for those in-between days.

The first new Gunshae music since their contribution to the 2013 Panambient Angeles compilation, this is the way of the Gun in a different style. First performed at 2014’s Pan Ambient PDX show in Portland, Lady Eve took the helm at the mixing desk for the first time since “Travelling Without Memory” opuses ‘Southern Wind’ and ‘Aya No Uta.’ The result is something different, refined, stately and with pronounced weight. Procession music for ceremonies yet held.

Kuma’s electronics are more alien than ever. A radical alteration of the traditional Gunshae production process has meant that they’ve abandoned improv from the get go. Instead, loops have been built from the ground up, structures in sound created and the studio embraced.

In turn, Lady Eve has created her own orchestra. Multi-tracking oboe and English horn to create something akin to Philip Glass’ early symphonies. The classically trained half of Gunshae stands out as she weaves melody lines and crescendos through the heart of Kuma’s electronics to create paintings for the ears that are distinctly Gunshae. It’s that Casacadianplayalisticpanambientdronemusic.